"Dead Man's Chest" (also known as
Fifteen Men On The Dead Man's Chest or Derelict) is a fictional sea song,
originally from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883). It was
expanded in a poem, titled Derelict by Young E. Allison, published in the
Louisville Courier-Journal in 1891. It has since been used in many later works
of art in various forms.

Background

Stevenson found the name "Dead Man's
Chest" among a list of Virgin Island names in a book by Charles Kingsley,
possibly in reference to the Dead Chest Island in the British Virgin
Islands. As Stevenson once said, "Treasure Island came out of
Kingsley's At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies (1871); where I got the
'Dead Man's Chest' - that was the seed." That is, Stevenson saw the
three words "Dead Man's Chest" in Kingsley's book among a list of
names, germinating in Stevenson's mind it was the "seed", which then
grew into the novel.

In Treasure Island Stevenson only wrote the
chorus, leaving the remainder of the song unwritten, and to the reader's imagination:

“ Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--

...Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Drink and the devil had done for the rest--

...Yo-ho-ho,
and a bottle of rum!”

The song has been
widely used in the arts for over a century. In 1901 music was added to the
lyrics of "Derelict" for a Broadway rendition of Treasure Island. In
the 1954 film "Return to Treasure Island", starring Robert Newton,
the song was sung in the opening credits, and instrumentally as the thematic
background to the action. In the 1959 television series "The Adventures of
Long John Silver"--again starring Robert Newton--it was, although only in
instrumental version, the series' theme song played both at the beginning and
the end of each episode. In 1967, writers for the Walt Disney film company found
inspiration in "Derelict" for the sea-song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's
Life for Me)", which was played in the "Pirates of the
Caribbean" theme ride at Disneyland. Astrid Lindgren expanded Stevenson's
couplet differently in the script for the 1969 Pippi Longstocking TV series;
the two resulting verses were sung to a West Indian sea shanty. In the 1978
film Revenge of the Pink Panther, Chief Inspector Clouseau, disguised as a
"salty Swedish seadog", sings a mangled version of the song.

Alan
Moore made a play on the song in the 1986 graphic novel Watchmen; the chapter
is called "One man on fifteen dead men's chests." In 1993, the
contemporary "pirate" vocal group, The Jolly Rogers, recorded Mark
Stahl's arrangement of Young E. Allison's lyrics, re-released in 1997 on their
CD titled "Pirate Gold". A rendition was recorded by the steampunk
band Abney Park as "The Derelict".

In German, the
song is sometimes known as "17 Mann auf des toten Manns Kiste", so it
mentions 2 more men, or sometimes as "13 Mann", mentioning 2 fewer,
most prominently in Michael Ende's Jim Knopf stories. Likewise, in the
Hungarian translation of Treasure Island, the phrase is "seven (men) on a
dead man's chest"; apparently these numbers provided the closest effect to
the original regarding rhyme and syllables in English.

Piracy is typically an act of robbery or
criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the
air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally
include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the
perpetrator (e.g. one passenger stealing from others on the same vessel). The
term has been used throughout history to refer to raids across land borders by
non-state agents.

Piracy or pirating is the name of a
specific crime under customary international law and also the name of a number
of crimes under the municipal law of a number of States. It is distinguished
from privateering, which is authorized by national authorities and therefore a
legitimate form of war-like activity by non-state actors. Privateering is
considered commerce raiding, and was outlawed by the Peace of Westphalia (1648)
for signatories to those treaties.

Those who engage in acts of piracy are
called pirates.

In the 21st century, the international
community is facing many problems in bringing pirates to justice.

Etymology

The English "pirate" is derived
from the Latin term pirata and that from Greek "πειρατής" (peiratēs),
"brigand", in turn from "πειράομαι" (peiráomai), "I
attempt", from "πεῖρα" (peîra), "attempt, experience".
The word is also cognate to peril. Also, particularly in the 1700s and 1800s,
spelling was haphazard, and words such as "Pyrate" or "an act of
Pyracy" are examples of some of the accepted ways of spelling in past
years.

History

Pirates have been
around since people began transporting goods through sea. The earliest known
pirates were the Sea People, who pillaged and plundered the Mediterranean Sea
in the 13th century B.C. The ancient Illyrians had spent years pillaging Roman
and Greek vessels in the Adriatic Sea. The piracy in the old times was mostly
prominent in the Mediterranean, although there were the Vikings in the Northern
seas. Mediterranean pirates were hunted down by powerful empires, such as
Greek, Roman, and Persian; while the Vikings flourished and conquered new lands.

Piracy in the Caribbean

The Caribbean was the most prominent area for piracy. The vast loads of Aztec
gold traveling from the New World and Spain was the perfect target for aspiring swashbucklers. Colonies were
settled in the islands and on the mainland, triggering trading routes and
transportation by sea. Many people became pirates shortly after the end of the
Spanish Succession War. Buccaneers began arriving in the mid-late 17th century.
The buccaneers were people that smoked meat over a structure called a buccan,
thus earning their name. The buccaneers lived on the island of Hispaniola,
selling their smoked goods to passing ships. After the Spanish slaughtered
their pig cattle, the buccaneers, not knowing any other job to do and seeing
the fleets of gold being transported in open waters, turned to piracy. Pirates
were rising in fame and some were forever immortalized as the most fearsome
pirates that have ever sailed. From the Bahamas
to Trinidad to the Florida Keys, no merchant ship was safe from pirates.

Jolly Roger

Jolly Roger is
the traditional English name for the flags flown to identify a pirate ship
about to attack in during the early 18th century (i.e. the later part of the
"Golden Age of Piracy").

The flag most
commonly identified as the Jolly Roger today, the skull and crossbones symbol
on a black flag, was used during the 1710s by a number of pirate captains
including "Black Sam" Bellamy, Edward England, and John Taylor and it
went on to become the most commonly used pirate flag during the 1720s.

Name

The origins of
the name was the French term for the English flag "Jolie Rouge"
meaning Pretty Red

Use of the term
Jolly Roger in reference to pirate flags goes back to at least Charles
Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates, published in Britain in 1724.

Johnson
specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag "Jolly
Roger": Bartholomew Roberts in June, 1721 and Francis Spriggs in December
1723. While Spriggs and Roberts used the same name for their flags, their flag
designs were quite different, suggesting that already "Jolly Roger"
was a generic term for black pirate flags rather than a name for any single
specific design. Neither Spriggs' nor Roberts' Jolly Roger consisted of a skull
and crossbones.

Richard Hawkins,
who was captured by pirates in 1724, reported that the pirates had a black flag
bearing the figure of a skeleton stabbing a heart with a spear, which they
named "Jolly Roger".

The origin of the
name is unclear. Jolly Roger had been a generic term for a jovial, carefree man
since at least the 17th century and the existing term seems to have been
applied to the skeleton or grinning skull in these flag by the early 18th
century. In 1703, a pirate named John Quelch was reported to have been flying
the "Old Roger" off Brazil, "Old Roger" being a nickname
for the devil.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born
French dancer, singer, and actress who came to be known in various circles as
the "Black Pearl,""Bronze Venus" and even the "Creole
Goddess". Born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, Josephine
later became a citizen of France in 1937. She was fluent in both English and
French.

Josephine Baker was an American singer, dancer and night club performer
who achieved fame in Paris in the
1920s. She was also known for being a civil rights advocate and for fighting
racism. What is less known is that she was also a lesbian or bisexual woman.

Josephine Baker was a sex symbol of her time and she had many notable
lovers, both male and female. She had lovers in Europe and in
the United States and she
dated both Black and White men and women. Many of her biographies fail to
mention her female lovers.

Baker’s Banana Dance is probably one of the most famous dances during
that era.

Whether it’s the bananas or the
way she moves with them, this dance has gone down in history and is something every
dancer should know about.

Josephine Baker had a style all to her own. Her unique aesthetic and bold choreography
are still studied today as paradigms of 20s and 30s vernacular jazz
movements. Not only is she an important
figure in the Swing world, but her political significance trumps many of her
contemporaries. She was the first African American female to star in motion
pictures and to perform at a racially integrated American Concert Hall. She
aided the French resistance in WWII which won her the prestigious military
award of the Croix de Guerre and she is especially noted for her contributions
to the American Civil Rights movement in the 1970s.

Africa is a hit single by rock band Toto,
and is one of the band's most recognizable songs. It was included on their 1982
album Toto IV, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in
February 1983 and number three on the UK Singles Chart the same month. The song
was written by the band's keyboardist/vocalist David Paich and drummer Jeff
Porcaro.

Africa continues to be played at all of
Toto's live concerts. It was also sung by Paich at the 2009 Millennium Development
Goals Awards Ceremony.

Background

The initial
idea for the song came from David Paich. Jeff Porcaro explains the idea behind
the song: "... a white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he's never been there,
he can only tell what he's seen on TV or remembers in the past."

David Paich
said: "At the beginning of the '80s I watched a late night documentary on
TV about all the terrible death and suffering of the people in Africa. It both moved and appalled me and
the pictures just wouldn't leave my head. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about
if I was there and what I'd do."

Musically
the song took quite some time to assemble, as Paich and Porcaro explain:

"On 'Africa' you hear a combination of marimba
with GS 1. The kalimba is all done with the GS 1; it's six tracks of GS 1
playing different rhythms. I wrote the song on CS-80, so that plays the main
part of the entire tune."

Music video

The music video was
directed by Steve Barron. In the video, a researcher in a library (portrayed by
band member David Paich) tries to match a scrap of a picture to the book from
which it was torn out. As he continues his search, a black female librarian
working at a desk takes occasional notice of him, while a native in the
surrounding jungle begins to close in on the library. When the researcher finds
a book entitled Africa, the native throws a spear, toppling stacks of books.
Africa falls open to the page from which the scrap was torn, but a lantern
lands on it and sets it on fire, after which the librarian's eyeglasses are
shown falling to the floor. The scenes are intercut with shots of a spinning
globe and the band performing atop a stack of hardcover books.

This video also
features Mike Porcaro on bass, replacing David Hungate who had already left
Toto before the video was made.

TOTO

Toto is an
American rock band formed in 1977 in Van Nuys in Greater Los Angeles,
California. The band's current lineup consists of Joseph Williams (lead
vocals), David Paich (keyboards, vocals), Steve Porcaro (keyboards), Steve
Lukather (guitars, vocals), and Keith Carlock (drums). Original bass player
David Hungate is currently scheduled to tour with Toto as a guest musician, as
Mike Porcaro is too ill to tour. Toto is known for a musical style that
combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock,
R&B and jazz.

David Paich
and Jeff Porcaro had played together as session musicians on several albums and
decided to form a band. David Hungate, Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro and Bobby
Kimball were recruited before their first album release. The band enjoyed great
commercial success in the late 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the band's
eponymous debut released in 1978. With the release of the critically acclaimed
and commercially successful Toto IV (1982), Toto became one of the best-selling
music groups of their era. They are best known for the Top 5 hits "Hold
the Line", "Rosanna", and "Africa". Several changes to the
lineup have been made over the years. In 2008, Lukather announced his departure
from the band, and the remaining band members later went their separate ways.
In the summer of 2010, Toto reformed and went on a short European tour, with a
new lineup, to benefit Mike Porcaro, who had been diagnosed with amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS) and is no longer an active member of the band.

↓ A editing job done by Trey Compton; I am a huge fan of Toto. This editing job was not meant to be a
mockery of this song but a glorification and a clarification of the pure genius
that is: "Africa."

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Good day
all TotH Fans, Some of you want early announcements to plan when they can be on
line to join our shows and cabarets.

Next Friday
(12th) Twerton presents us his new show 'Strictly from Dixie' we start at 1 PM.
At the attached poster you can see what kind of songs we perform for
you.

Two picture
of the show.

SATURDAY

CHOCOLATE PARTY at T.R.A.C.S

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is perhaps Roald Dahl’s best-known story.
Saturday 13th it is also Roald Dahl's birthday. Only the best chocolate will be served.
There is L$2000 to win for best in theme.

I think Willy Wonka was favorite at our
party but all the guest did a great job to come in theme.

Willy Wonka is a character in Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory, its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and
the film adaptations of these books that followed. The book and the film
adaptations both vividly depict an odd Wonka, a phoenix-like man arising from
his creative and eccentric genius. He bewilders the other characters with his
antics, but Charlie enjoys Wonka's behavior. In the 2005 film adaptation, Willy
Wonka's behavior is viewed more as a sympathetic character flaw. Wonka's
reasons for giving away his fabulous factory are never revealed in the books,
but in the 1971 film adaptation, Wonka tells Charlie he "can't live
forever", so he wanted to find a sweet child he could trust his candy
making secrets to.

Here are my
snapshots!

DJ ZEE

SUNDAY

Group
Notice From: Sweetgrass Sim Group by Ganymede Gynoid

Sweetgrass
celebrated the start of the new university year with a great party where
alumni, students and staff danced together on DJ Rik's excellent set. I suppose
many of them slept the whole next day, suffering from a hangover... but it was
worth it! The contest is won by Christo, Matthias, Brice, Joeh and Akira, congrats
boys!